diff -Nur e-smith-manager-2.8.0.old/root/etc/e-smith/web/common/cgi-bin/login e-smith-manager-2.8.0/root/etc/e-smith/web/common/cgi-bin/login
--- e-smith-manager-2.8.0.old/root/etc/e-smith/web/common/cgi-bin/login	2017-04-05 10:33:51.386000000 -0400
+++ e-smith-manager-2.8.0/root/etc/e-smith/web/common/cgi-bin/login	2017-04-05 10:34:50.011000000 -0400
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@
 my ($mode, $location, $suffix) = fileparse($ENV{SCRIPT_NAME}, '\.cgi', '\.pl');
 $mode = 'login' unless $mode eq 'guest' || $mode eq 'autologin';
 my $self_redirect = $q->param('redirect') || 0;
-my $username = lc($q->param('username'));
+my $username = lc($q->param('username')||'');
 my $password = $q->param('password');
 my $timeout = $q->param('timeout');
 my $unauth = $q->param('unauth');